Albany police chief defends use of force at protest

My colleague Jordan Carleo-Evangelist sat down with Albany Police Chief Steven Krokoff Monday. Though Krokoff did not talk much about the shooting of Nahcream Moore, he did speak in detail about the Dec. 22 dismantling of the Occupy Albany encampment in Academy Park.

Krokoff called the demonstrators’ actions a calculated move to boost their own profile by seizing the national spotlight that shined after other Occupy protests around the country ended in violent confrontations with police.

“It’s not that they were just expressing anger, though I’m sure they were upset, but their intent was to provoke a police officer to do something stupid so, in this way, they could catapult themselves up to another arena,” Krokoff said.

Krokoff’s appearance before the Common Council at City Hall Thursday will come 17 months after the same council unanimously confirmed him as chief and standard-bearer for a new, more community-focused style of law enforcement.

Since then, he and his command staff have met extensively with neighborhood leaders in hopes of rebuilding trust on both sides of the relationship that many said went untended for too long.

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He spoke in detail only about the conflict with the protesters, but he acknowledged that the relationship between the community and the police is “always going to be fragile.”

“These two things compounded on top of each other doesn’t change who I am,” Krokoff said. “I’m not looking for the benefit of the doubt. I’m looking for the time to investigate and get the truth out. That, I think, I’ve earned. I’ve always been truthful. The people of this city know that I’ve always been truthful with them. And the only thing I do expect is for them to give me the opportunity to conduct an investigation so that the truth can be known.”

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With protesters grabbing at the officer and the horse, Krokoff said, repeating a narrative the demonstrators have disputed, Gorleski had few choices.

“Had they been cooperative and heeded his orders to move back, then he never would have had to do it,” Krokoff said. “I’m happy that Rich didn’t go towards his (collapsible baton) and that he opted for the pepper spray. He had a duty and responsibility to protect himself, the other officers and the people around him.”

The protesters then returned to the park for what they would later insist was just a temporary stay to conduct their nightly general assembly — with no intention of keeping it there in violation of a court order.

But Krokoff disputed that claim, saying he does not believe they planned to hold a meeting but might have let them briefly remain there anyway had officers not heard rumblings that the demonstrators wanted to take the tent back into the streets,

“We were at a decision point there. Do we let them stay, which actually I was inclined to do, or do we grab the tent? And when we all of a sudden started hearing about running around the city with the tent again, my decision was take it away,” he said. “Nobody was in control there. Someone had to take control of that situation, and it was going to be me.”